St Johnstone went down to a 3-1 defeat at Celtic Park.
In terms of the bottom of the Premiership table, the story of the day was being written elsewhere.
Livingston’s heavy defeat at Hibs had a ‘final nail in the coffin’ feel – that was the good news.
But Ross County and Aberdeen both winning was the last thing the Perth players wanted to hear after they got back into the visitors’ dressing room following their Parkhead loss.
Courier Sport analyses the Saints game and the changing basement picture.
Passing failures and the real Kyogo
Until around the half-hour mark this contest mirrored the August one when Steven MacLean’s side earned a first league point of the season on the back of a solid defensive display and an uncharacteristically ponderous attacking one from the champions.
Pretty much everything was happening at a safe distance from Dimitar Mitov’s goal.
If anything, he was busier in the equivalent period back in August.
There were two key differences to one match playing out as a 0-0 draw and the other ending up with Celtic scoring on three occasions – the return to form of Kyogo and Saints’ inability to find a team-mate.
Celtic didn’t have a single player whose passing accuracy numbers dipped below 70% – most were in the 80s and 90s.
Saints had six under.
On a day when team possession is roughly 75% to 25% those sort of individual stats are always going to tell.
But, even if Saints had kept hold of the ball more effectively, they would likely still have lost.
The final result probably said more about Celtic than St Johnstone.
Drill down even deeper, it said more about their main man getting back to his best.
As it had been in some heavy defeats for Saints in this fixture over recent seasons (but wasn’t the case in August) Kyogo’s movement was exquisite.
And in Nicolas Kuhn, Celtic might just have picked up a player who is on the same wavelength.
Celtic fans should feel markedly more optimistic about their title chances on the back of their team’s display.
For Saints supporters, the dial didn’t really shift one way or the other on the basis of how Craig Levein’s men performed.
Sprangler worry
Having Sven Sprangler back in the middle of the pitch was an important factor in Saints winning at Pittodrie recently.
He rightly retained his starting position against Livingston and again at Parkhead.
It was the first time he had been picked three times in a row by Levein.
The Austrian was Saints’ best-performing central midfielder at the point he was forced off with a knee injury (25 minutes into the contest).
Revisiting to that passing accuracy theme, Sprangler was sitting on 100%, eight from eight.
His physicality and grasp of the midfield basics was missed.
That the game turned after he left the pitch probably had more to do with Celtic raising the tempo but Sprangler’s absence certainly contributed.
There’s every chance that the return of the three centre-backs was a one-off for this fixture, and that Levein will revert to a 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 for the visit of Dundee after the international break.
It would be a big blow if Sprangler isn’t alongside Dan Phillips in the middle of the pitch.
Straight shoot-out
As woeful as Aberdeen have been on the pitch and as shambolic as they’ve been off it, counting on the Dons as play-off possibles was always going to be a stretch.
For a club of their resources and fan base, wherever they finish in the bottom six, the 2023/24 league campaign deserves to be viewed as an unmitigated disaster.
But they won’t finish second from last.
Neither will Motherwell.
Saints are in a straight shoot-out with Ross County.
Last week was set-up for a closing of the gap.
County had a winnable game in hand, back to back home matches and Saints were long, long odds at Celtic Park.
Two wins, two draws and a loss in their last five is a significant upturn in form.
And eight goals in those five games speaks to a team with a far more potent attacking threat than Saints.
But there are Perth positives in this head to head.
For Saints to have got the Old Firm out of the way with their goal difference still three better than the Dingwall club’s is important.
Also, although both clubs have a tough pre-split last three, I’d choose St Johnstone’s set of matches over Ross County’s.
Saints blew a golden chance to transform the survival outlook the last time they played Dundee.
The fixture list has handed them a second chance to do just that a week on Saturday.
Nothing would fuel hope and belief more than a first Tayside derby victory of the season.
Conversation